Ted Deutch on Education

Increased funding for public schools & teachers

As the proud father of three children who attend public school in Palm Beach County, I see firsthand what is working and what we need to improve in our educational system.

I strongly support increased funding for early childhood education including
Head Start, pre-K, and after school programs.

Great teaching is the cornerstone to great public education. We need to recruit the best teachers possible to teach in our schools. I sponsored legislation to provide incentives for new teacher recruitment

Voted NO on reauthorizing the DC opportunity scholarship program.

Congressional Summary:The SOAR Act award five-year grants on a competitive basis to nonprofit organizations to carry out an expanded school choice opportunities to students who are District of Columbia residents and who come from households:

receiving assistance under the supplemental nutrition assistance program; or

with incomes not exceeding 185% of the poverty line.

Provides funds to the Mayor of DC, if the Mayor agrees to specified requirements, for:

the DC public schools to improve public education, and

the DC public charter schools to improve and expand quality public charter schools.

Proponent's Argument for voting Yes:[Rep. Bishop, R-UT]: In 1996, Congress insisted upon a charter school program in DC. You will hear from both sides of the aisle recognition of the great value that that program has, and justifiably so. There is a waiting list in DC for those charter schools.
This bill increases the percentage of funding going to charter schools in the District. In 2003, an Opportunity Scholarship was instituted, at the insistence of Congress. Again, there was a waiting list of people wanting the opportunity; disadvantaged kids who wanted the opportunity that this scholarship afforded them. There were 216 kids at the time scheduled to enter the program who were not allowed; the bill remedies that.

Opponent's Argument for voting No:[Rep. Hastings, D-FL]: In the last 41 years voters have rejected private school vouchers every time they have been proposed. In 1981, 89% of the people in a referendum in DC voted against vouchers. So how dare we come here to tell these people that we are going to thrust upon them something they don't want without a single public official in this community being consulted. Congress' oversight of the District is not an excuse for political pandering to the Republicans' special interest of the day du jour.

Prohibits federal funds provided under this Act from being used for health education programs that:

deliberately withhold life-saving information about HIV;

are medically inaccurate or have been scientifically shown to be ineffective;

promote gender stereotypes;

are insensitive and unresponsive to the needs of sexually active youth or lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender youth; or

are inconsistent with the ethical imperatives of medicine and public health.

Opponent's argument against bill: (Nick Wing on Huffington Post) An abstinence-only effort, introduced the same day, the Abstinence Education Reallocation Act, stands as an effective counter to the Democratic-backed Real Education for Healthy Youth Act.

According to the text of the abstinence-only bill, sex education programs would need to be "medically accurate" and teach the "skills and benefits of sexual abstinence as the optimal sexual health behavior for youth" in order to qualify for grant money. The bill also calls for applicable programs to focus on the "holistic health, economic, and societal benefits that can be gained by refraining from non-marital sexual activity," as well as to provide an "understanding of how drugs, alcohol, and the irresponsible use of social media can influence sexual decision-making and can contribute to risky and often aggressive sexual behavior."

Sounds enticing enough. They make a convincing argument that convinced over 200,000 people to sign their petition, many of whom shared their personal stories of student debt and how this act would change their lives. I disagree with all of them.

First, there is already student loan forgiveness act that erases your loans after 20 years. It is called Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act.

Many people who signed the petition argued that the government bailed out the banks, so why not us? The main difference [with TARP is that] most banks paid back the loans from TARP [while student loan forgiveness will make] $1 trillion magically disappear.

If the average college graduate is 22 years old, then we are talking about being debt free by 32. That is a risk I see many young college students willing to take.

Special elections in 2017 (Republicans):KS-4:Pompeo(R; appointed CIA Director)
KS-4:Estes(R; elected April 11)
GA-6:Price(R; appointed HHS Secretary)
GA-6:Handel(R; elected June 20)
MT-0:Zinke(R; appointed DOI Secretary)
MT-0:Gianforte(R; elected May 25)
SC-5:Mulvaney(R; appointed OMB Director)
SC-5:Norman(R; elected June 20)
UT-3:Chaffetz(R; resigned; election pending Nov. 7)